Asha Bhosle pens heartfelt note as she remembers late husband R D Burman on his birth anniversary

Veteran singer Asha Bhosle took to social media on Sunday to remember her late husband, legendary music composer Rahul Dev Burman aka R D Burman on his birth anniversary. Bhosle shared a throwback black and white photograph of herself posing together with Burman on Instagram and wrote: “Thank you for the music (not just from me but also the millions of hearts that beat to your madness). Happy birthday Pancham.”

Earlier in the day, several Bollywood celebrities took to social media to remember R D Burman and his music on his birth anniversary.

Asha Bhosle’s elder sister, playback legend Lata Mangeshkar tweeted in Hindi, “R D Burman ko kaun nahi jaanta. Wo janam se rajputra tha aur sangeet ka wo raja tha. Aaj uski jayanti hai. Main uski yaad ko aur uske sangeet ko vinamra abhivadan karti hun. (Who does not know R D Burman. He was a prince by birth and the king of music. Today is his birth anniversary. I pay my humble tribute to his memories and music.)”

Poet-lyricist-screenwriter Javed Akhtar wrote, “Today on June 27 it is RD Burman’s birth anniversary. Time is always kind to genuinely great people, it keeps enlarging the image of a genius more and more. No surprise that his popularity among the gen next and the young musicians is increasing by the day.”

Burman was famous for the combination of songs he created with Asha Bhosle and Kishore Kumar. But, he had also created one of the most memorable songs of Indian music history with India’s nightingale Lata Mangeshkar. 

Some of their iconic songs are, ‘Baaho Me Chali’ from ‘Anamika’, ‘Bhai Battur’ from ‘Padosan’, ‘Sharm Aati Hai’ from ‘Padosan’, ‘Raina Beeti Jaye’ from ‘Amar Prem’, ‘Na Koi Umang Hai’ from ‘Katti Patang’, ‘Bada Natkhat Hai’ from ‘Amar Prem’, ‘Dil Bar Dil Se Pyare’ from ‘Caravan’, ‘Phoolo Ka Taaro Ka’ from ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’, ‘Bangle Ke Peeche’ from ‘Samadhi’, ‘Rhim Jhim Geere Sawan’ from ‘Manzil’ and many more. 

Earlier in the day, megastar Amitabh Bachchan also remembered Burman and his song ‘Biti Na Bitai Raina’ starring his wife Jaya Bachchan. RD Burman (Rahul Dev Burman), the only son of famous music composer Sachin Dev Burman, is considered to be one of the greatest composers to have ever lived in the country. 

Right from the 1960s to the 90s, Burman composed music for 331 films. He was mainly active in the Hindi film industry as a composer, who also provided vocals for a few compositions. The majority of his work was with his wife, Asha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi. Despite being the foundation for numerous budding Bollywood music directors, he only received three Filmfare Awards, one of which was awarded posthumously for ‘1942: A Love Story’.